Equal Pay for Equal Work. It's Only Fair...?

On Wednesday, April 23rd, the Senate failed to pass the Fair Pay Act. What was almost worse than that defeat were the out-of-touch, old-fashioned-- and downright insulting-- statements about women. Senator John McCain (come ON, Arizona!), who didn’t even come to vote, said that instead of legislation allowing women to fight for equal pay, they simply need "education and training."

Lilly Ledbetter, whose Supreme Court case led to the creation of the Fair Pay Act, didn't need "training". She needed Fair Pay. Women today make up 56% of college graduates and nearly half of the labor force in this country. Yet women make only 73 cents to a man's dollar, and mothers only make 60 cents, for the exact same job.

Sign the petition below in support of the Fair Pay Act. And for good measure, send Senator McCain your resume. Our goal is to send him 100,000. Think he'll get the point?

We Need Equal Pay for Equal Work--it is good law, make it enforceable.

http://www.momsrising.org/fairpaymccain

The above is taken almost word for word from a Fair Pay Act website. What you'll read below, what I HOPE you read below, are my words, my story. An absolute, God's truth slice of my past:

When I was 18, I worked for a real estate firm in Chicago called Frank M. Whiston & Co. I was an accounting clerk, and I made $380.00 per month, BEFORE taxes. For this $380.00 per month, I opened, counted, and reconciled rent checks from various Chicago properties. Eight feet away from me sat a young man about the same age, and his name was Ray. He did the exact same job that I did. And for this job, Ray made $500.00 per month. He was single, so having a "family" wasn't even a flimsy excuse. He made more than me because he was a man. Period. And while I always found myself borrowing a few bucks from my coworkers every week so I could buy cigarettes (I was a smoker back then), the amount that Ray made more than me each and every month would have literally paid my entire rent.

That was in 1975. Come on, people of America. I really thought we were past that sh*t by now.

But thank you John McCain, who has informed me in no uncertain terms that I do not need equal pay for equal work. I need education and training. May I take this to mean I need more education and training than my male counterparts to do the same job so that I can earn the same amount of money? Perhaps, then, my male counterparts would like to PAY for that education? If being a woman means I am not entitled to equal pay, then being a man should mean men pay more taxes. Pardon me, but both make the same damned amount of sense.

If you are a woman, please go to the link above and sign the petition. If you are a man, before you blow this off and forget it, think about the women in your life. Your mother, your wife, sister, your daughter-- all of these women whom you claim to care so much about will be faced with this. It affects the woman in the next cubicle who struggles to make daycare payments and can't afford family medical insurance. It affects the friend from work you have lunch with in the plaza-- you know, the gal who brings her lunch most of the time and who can't afford to go out to lunch while coworkers of a certain gender eat out 4 or 5 times a week. The world would be a better place and politicians like McCain might actually wake the frack up if their male counterparts added their voices to the "THIS IS NOT FAIR!" scream.

Read it for yourselves:

What is the Fair Pay Act?

Republicans Defeat Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act

McCain dismisses equal pay legislation, says women need more ‘training and education.’

McCONNELL AND SENATE REPUBLICAN EXTREMISTS KILL EQUAL PAY FOR EQUAL WORK BILL

Ledbetter Fair Pay Act Vote Fails In Senate: The Case For More And Better Democrats

McCain opposes equal pay bill in Senate

Whether you love or hate Harlan Ellison, he is the defender of all writers:





One of the FAQs on my website addresses folks who write me and ask me to contribute stories for free or for a contributor's copy. Sometimes, when I say "No. No. And no." I'm called snobbish, or unappreciative of the "plight of new writers." That "plight" will never change if you write for free (and come on-- a freakin' penny [or less!] per word might as well be free), and those folks who call me those things tend to run out of responses when I ask them if the grocery store will take that contributor's copy and give me a loaf of bread, or if I can mail that contributor's copy to the electric company to cover my monthly bill.

Yeah. Go Harlan.


(Thanks to my friend, Shira, on whose Blog I found the video.)

Yes, that's me, coming up for air... or at least catch-up. During my last news report (::ahem::), I was caught up in a myriad of WHC rescheduling. Our trip out there was loads of fun and activity-- more panels than I've been on in quite some time, plus the mass autograph signing and a reading. Busy busy busy. I unveiled a 1/2 hour chunk of HIGHBORN to about fifteen people during my reading slot (and I was really flattered that Melanie Tem, who is an absolutely fantastic writer, attended). There were parties and for a change I tried to socialize instead of being the early-to-bed petite desert flower that I am. Okay, I still couldn't keep up with The Husband (westonochse ) but I managed to be a bit more social than at previous cons. While we've resisted for awhile, both The Husband and I seemed to cave this time and we really bought a lot of books. And when I got home, I'd finally had enough of the tired eyes, etc., and I went to the eye doctor, so now I'm eagerly awaiting a regular pair of everyday glasses, and an extra reading-only pair. I'm longing for the days of my teenagehood, where I'd sit down with a book on Friday evening and by Sunday night, I'd finished it... plus two more. At present I'm good for fifteen minutes at most.

Goblin and The Ghost are okay, Poe is fine. Weather is cold at night and chilly yesterday, but finally breaking. Festival of the Southwest tomorrow at the park, we'll be there with bells on. No movement on the job front, but hopes springs infernal and all that stuff. Writing goes slow but I feel inspired, this despite a little disappointment from a package I sent out. Such is life.

Rather than ramble on, I'll keep this reasonably short and end it by saying that The Husband has come up with the absolute bomb of a book trailer for Scarecrow Gods. Turn up the volume and check it out!

I put all the WHC2008 panel stuff on LJ, FB, MS and my Blog.

Then they changed the time for one of the panels.

3/29 (Saturday) - NOW 9:00 - 9::50 a.m.: Pacing is everything. Do you have ups and downs? One long, slow climb? How do you pace your story for maximum impact? (panel participant) (And no, I have no idea why the world is so cruel as to make me be on a panel at 9 on a Saturday morning. Gah.)

And I forgot to list my reading slot.

3/28 (Friday) - 1:30 p.m.: 1/2 hour Reading. I think I'll finally give the world a sneak peak at HIGHBORN. By the way, The Husband (westonochse) is reading immediately afterward, at 2:00 p.m.</lj>

And I forgot to tell everyone about the fun Interview I had with a Transylvania journalist, which is now posted online. The newspaper is the Transilvania Expres, and Yours Truly is grinning at the Romanian world via a shot from, yes, last year's World Horror Con. No, I have no clue what it says. I can recognize a few words, like vampire, creature, and Buffy. Beyond that...

(please please don't let me remember something else the instant I hit "post")

WHC2008 fast approaches. Here's where I'll be -- catch me if you can!

3/27 (Thursday) - 9:00 to 9:50 p.m.: What is it about folklore that touches our psyche? (panel participant)

3/28 (Friday) - 11:00 - 11:50 a.m.: How (and why) to write romance into your horror. (panel participant)

3/28 (Friday) - 8:00 - 9:50 p.m.: Mass Autograph Signing

3/29 (Saturday) - 10:00 - 10:50 a.m.: Pacing is everything. Do you have ups and downs? One long, slow climb? How do you pace your story for maximum impact? (panel participant)

3/29 (Saturday) - 7:30 - 10:30 p.m.: HWA Stoker Banquet and Awards Presentation (presenter - Superior Achievement in an Anthology)

3/30 (Sunday) - 11:00 - 11:50 a.m.: Supporting a Writer. Spouses of writers have a very unique challenge. How do you support a writer financially and emotionally? (panel participant)

Despite what appears to be a rapid-fire schedule, I'm very much looking forward to this trip and leaving the mounting stress of daily life behind. See you all there!

What the heck -- where did the end of February and most of March go?  Man, have we been horrifically busy.  Work, projects, visiting relatives, you name it.  Some fun times, some not so fun-- that's life.  Among the highlights of this blur of a month was buying the very first brand new car I've ever owned, then, at mile 17 that I put on it (with a total of 43 miles on the odometer -- I hadn't even signed the freakin' papers yet) getting a written warning from a Highway Patrolman.  Unfortunately I was paying more attention to the whiz bangs in the new car -- mirror, radio, what's this button do?-- than my speed.  A week and a half later I was gifted with an extremely pricey (and annoying) speeding ticket, a real one, by a different Highway Patrolman.  Alas, I will be spending Easter Sunday morning in Defensive Driving School.  ::sigh::

Find of the Month:  A German-made bookshelf unit in the Post Thrift Store, made of three sections of beautiful varnished knotty pine.  One of those sections is a curved corner unit.  I rearranged the other two sections a bit to fit my office and it's just fabulous. 

My ancient cousin fell and broke her hip 2 days before I had her scheduled to go into assisted living.  She had surgery and went from the hospital straight into a nursing home and we had to empty out her apartment.  She was quite the pill for the first two weeks but is finally calming down, so we might be able to get her into assisted living after all.  For awhile she was so difficult that they wouldn't have accepted her.

Goblin came through his surgery with all the grace of a drunken sailor.  My poor boy was on the table for quite a bit longer than anticipated, with the accompanying increase in anesthesia.  It seems the cyst was attached to some kind of larger mass underneath.  The vet speculated it might have been caused by an old injury.  (What old injury?  ::grrrr:: to his original owners...)  Anyway, they got it all, the biopsy came back negative, and my staggering little boy is now his old self but with a nice long scar from 14 (ow ow ow) stitches.


Ghost is fine, cute as a button and my CuddleBug.  Poe is also fine.  She likes Daddy's nose.


The Husband (westonochse) and I will both be presenters at the World Horror Convention in Salt Lake City, coming up in about two weeks.  We're also on a bunch of panels -- I have to get one of my rare Google Groups newsletters together.  If you aren't signed up and want to be, let me know.  I mean it when I say I send updates only rarely-- I've only sent one out so far.

And finally, best for last:  I pulled out a long-ago novel proposal and reworked it from start to finish, then, because the old stuff just wasn't on the mark, hammered out 50 new pages of writing-- yes, NEW PAGES-- to start off the novel.  I did all this in 4 days.  For awhile, it felt like the old me, circa mid- to late-1990s, was back.  Said packet has been sent off to an agent and I am now typing with fingers and toes crossed.  Feel free to cross a few of yours on my behalf.

It snowed here today.  Yes, we live in Arizona.  WTF???

That's what I think I'll call months from now on-- "Fly Bys."  With everything that's going on, they all seem to do just that.  We've had lots of stressful challenges lately, with car issues, school things, family matters, home repairs, job stuff.  The cousin I moved up here in August is scheduled to go into assisted living on the first, which gives us 9 days to close up financial stuff and move her.  She is not amenable to, well, anything, but it's really not safe for her to live by herself anymore.  Nothing has changed about the job-- despite my best efforts to that end, and it's just more aggravating as days go by-- and precious little time has been devoted to writing, although I keep hoping.  The universe has not particularly smiled upon us so far this year, but again, I remain ever hopeful.  The wall is still not fixed, although someone finally came out today and looked at it.  Faced with this 9 day thing, I can't help but see (again) that every time I seem to catch up on stuff to do and get free time within my grasp that I might devote to Highborn, something thunders in to snatch it away.  My sweet Goblin also faces surgery a week from today to remove some skin tags and have a cyst on his side removed.  Keep your fingers crossed about that one.  He's been very apt to suddenly become scared of nothing lately, and I don't imagine being cut & sewn will help his trust issues.

Weather seems to be trying to warm up and we're seeing some green in the yard.  Okay, so they're weeds, but they are green.

Okay, so I haven't managed that one hour a day thing, but I did manage an almost all day writing stint today. That pile-o-hours got me 6 pages, and it's been since October that I wrote more than 2 or 3 pages at a time, so I'm pretty pleased. The story is finally starting to move on its on, the characters are starting to think outside my box, and I think I mentioned before that I've finally decided on HIGHBORN as the title. Sweet.

Here, at last, is a current word count, which is pretty good improvement over the last posting of 22,457:



Lots going on. Tomorrow we're (finally) going to take down the Christmas decorations. Theoretically we'll actually put them where they belong in the garage as opposed to leaving stacks of boxes on the garage floor and wads of wrapping paper and empty tubes in the drawing room. Time will tell. The wall is still not fixed; already there are issues with the driver's insurance company, which after promising the adjuster would make an appointment when we could be here, had an adjuster come out for an appraisal when no one was home. I have yet to speak to said adjuster. I can see this has the potential to be an unpleasant thing.

I got a bunch of great books for Christmas, the last of which just came in because of a lost shipment. Good stuff, and I'm looking forward to reading... after I get some new reading glasses. I think the glasses being out of date (and that stupid dry eye thing) really contribute to me not reading as much for pleasure anymore. I miss it, and I have way too many great books waiting.

Dawgs are fine, The Husband (westonochse  ) is okay. Occasionally I have to pound on him to keep him straight. Family is as okay as they're going to be. Still working on the job thing. Some potentially interesting stuff there, but we'll see. In the meantime, plesae keep invisible fingers crossed on my behalf.

I'm working, very slowly, on a long overdue complete new web page for myself.  Only have a few pages done so far, but it's coming along.

Alex got her report card, which was pretty doggone good. We're all happy, and so sometime soon we're going out for steak to celebrate.

We have six dead or nearly dead plants to dig up and return to Home Depot and Lowe's for refunds. One would think these stores would learn not to sell (and guarantee) outdoor plants here that cannot survive the high desert (i.e., COLD) winter climate.

Guess that's about it. Happy New Year, all!

Happy New Year, everyone!  We might be starting 2008 with a broken front wall, but we have every confidence that the boy's mother's insurance will take care of it.  We had a spectacularly superstitious early supper with family members, with all ingredients tied to old wives' tales of bringing good luck, lots of money, more good luck, and lots of plenty: spicy avocado rolls with dipping sauce (ok, so those were just an extra because I love avocados), BBQ'd shrimp (fabulous job by The Husband) with chipolte BBQ sauce, spinach salad with crumbled eggs, walnuts, and bacon bits, black-eyed peas, and finally, a Razzleberry Pie, into the crust of which I carved "2008."  Before getting too involved in cooking, I spent 45 minutes reacquainting myself with the last chapter on which I worked in HIGHBORN (take note that I've finally found a title I like), then adding a page and a half to it.  It awaits now, and I'm looking forward to working on it. 

My two biggest New Year's resolutions:

Resolution  (1):  One hour per day of UNINTERRUPTED writing.  This means no dogs (sorry, babies), no bills, no house stuff, and no calls (my 90-year-old cousin who has dementia called the house 9 times yesterday morning between 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m., and also woke us up on this first day of January at 5:30 A.M.). 

Resolution (2):  Find myself a new job.  I'm working on it.

I hope everyone has a healthy, happy and prosperous 2008!

Saturday afternoon, approximately 5:10 p.m. This is a representative shot, what it looked like as of last summer. Note that my beloved Ocotillo, the first thing we ever planted in the yard 3 years ago, is in full bloom.


Saturday afternoon, approximately 5:11 p.m.  My Ocotillo is under the piece of wrought iron in the yard, directly to the left of this young man's car.  All of it except for one stalk was completely sheared off at the base.


A closer view.  You can see The Husband in the backyard, staring, as I was, in disbelief, and headed back toward the house to get his car.  Why?  To join our neighbor in chasing the young man who was driving the car, because he clawed his way out of the back seat (he was quite bloody from a good knock on the head) and ran.  Yes, he was caught.  By the way, he was originally headed in the opposite direction of what you see, zipping along at an estimated 40 to 50 mph on our quiet little country side road.  He went completely across the road, spun, and hit the wall.  At least he missed the pole (by a whole 3 feet) that supplies power and telephone (and therefore heat and electricity to our water pump) to the house.


Happy New Year.  ::sigh::

Apparently I'm going to greet Christmas with a nasty head/chest cold. It started by turning my throat to raw hamburger at 3 a.m. Friday morning, and has progressed from there. I've been pretty useless all day, and was mostly useless yesterday. This is mucking up lots of great plans, not the least of which was friends of ours in Tucson were having their marvelous yearly Christmas party this evening (which we missed last year because it conflicted with ours). We'd been looking forward to going and had even gotten a great little hostess gift. Lest I infect the entire city of Tucson, we're not going. The cold has moved into my nose, I'm feverish, and it's headed toward my lungs. Wah.

Despite toodling around on the web with the following toys, I am still not amused. So there. (Plus I can't get the danged poster to display properly here, although it works fine on the original site. ::grr::)

yvonnenavarro.livejournal.com/

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